When one life ends because of Anon-a-Miss, another begins on the ARK.
With her life in ruins because of Anon-a-Miss, Sunset Shimmer is abducted by an unknown entity and tossed into a strange new world populated by a variety of ancient beasts and tribes. After she arrives, she is found by a young castaway and together, they'll survive, face old and new challenges, and learn the truth about the ARK.
Note: Primitive Plus, references to Genesis, and other modifications in ARK: Survival Evolved is to be expected in this story.
It felt like an eternity in a dark abyss, being trapped in a blank purgatory for reasons unknown.
...
He couldn't feel anything.
...
He couldn't see anything.
...
He couldn't hear anything.
...
He couldn't taste anything.
...
He couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not.
...
All he could remember was too long to be described, so it will be shortened for our sake; Around Galveston, Texas, a category 5 hurricane struck his hometown, leaving him stranded in a flooded house and completely separated from his family. And in the roaring waters, some weird metallic object floated towards him, with colorful lights beaming at him. A thought in his mind suggested a flying spacecraft owned by aliens, but it was too small to be one he figured.
He wasn't sure if it was his mind or not, but he could've sworn it said 'They obey their alpha.' upon finding him.
And like out of a low budget sci-fi movie, a bright blue portal opened up and began to suck him in with the force of a thousand vacuum cleaners. He remembered giving off one more shocked look before he blacked out upon reaching the portal's event horizon.
He struggled to move a limb, or lift a finger if anything, but it was in vain. He still persisted in waking up.
Until finally, he noticed the darkness was starting to brighten slowly. He forced it to accelerate with his determination to awake.
As he welcomed the warm and moist air after being freed from his state, sand met his body. A bright light blinded his vision and gentle splashes of water barely tickled his feet and legs. He shielded his eyes with his trembling hand from the sun to let them attempt to adjust to this new environment.
The best movement he could do was to glance to the left and right direction. He was expecting to be in some sort of hospital bed, not on a warm beach.
Then something poked him hard on the backside of his head.
"Ow!"
Jumping up at the brief pain, it brought him out of his state of exhaustion and got his eyesight straight again. Glancing down after feeling a weird draft, he immediately panicked and covered himself, as he had the embarrassing misfortune to be utterly naked. He checked to make sure nobody else was there to be a witness until a soft trill caught his attention.
Instead of a human like he was expecting, it was a comical looking bird, about as big as a turkey, staring at him curiously. It was a fat light brown avian with a face of yellow skin and a black beak that suggested a herbivorous diet.
...Was he looking at a Dodo?
It tilted its head before it bluntly pecked him again, this time on the forehead.
"Gah! Go away, pinhead!" He growled and shooed the bird off. A glint of something shiny on one of his arms made him inspect his limb and found something rather disturbing that made him think of one of those things police put into prisoners.
On his left wrist, or rather in his left wrist, was a diamond shaped metallic object glowing a hue of blue. He panicked as he try to find a way to scratch it out, but his attempts were in vain. It seemed like it was perfectly fused to his body, only surrounded by his skin slightly red in irritation of the foreign object.
While he was busy investigating it, he felt the earth tremble. He looked up and became awestruck dumb at what he was seeing now.
What was presented in front of him would be akin to a dream of his coming true. No biologist would be able to comprehend how something such as this would be standing right here and right now. Despite this, however, it was still perfectly in front of him. And just what was this that has the capability to rock the world of science? Why, it's easy to describe it, yet it was also understandably deniable until proven otherwise. The giant reptile that stood in front of him looked about more than 60 meters in length and a height of at least 10 meters, had a small trail osteoderms running down all the way on its back, four distinguishable massive tree trunk-like legs, a whip for a tail, and a long neck that ended with a small head that browsed in the heights.
A Brontosaurus, a living and breathing dinosaur in the flesh. It knocked down a couple of the trees as it moved through the patch of flora, forcing a flock of goofy birds to waddle away, least they become a feathery pancake.
Now taking a complete look around at his surroundings from where he sat, he found nothing but shells, pebbles, and a few logs of driftwood buried in the shore. The weird creatures that seem to have replaced the crabs were the sluggish little horseshoe-like bugs. Above him, a couple of pterosaurs soared in the sky, minding their own business. And along the shoreline, palm trees and light vegetation grew around a few giant rocks that laid in the sand.
Absorbing all of the familiar and unknown sights and sounds into his mind, he shakily managed to get back on his feet. The numbness he had felt earlier wore off as he made his way deeper into the mysterious island, passing by the dinosaur that didn't seem to care about his presence.
To say he wasn't in Texas anymore was the biggest understatement of the year.
The mental image of a tropical beach appears to anyone's mind when they hear the term 'vacation' or 'honeymoon'. Though it has a fair share of being balanced with various hazards like a national park, such as being subject to shark attacks and heralding hurricanes, it still held its picture of being a paradise for leisure. Indeed, are beaches so relaxing, one simply enjoys the idea of tranquility in such scenery.
To a nine-year old like Adam, who had grown up around the coasts of Texas a majority of his life, the beach was nothing in spectacular asides from being a natural ecosystem. If he was raised inland, he would've gawked at it for hours. He invested his attention on how he would be able to live off the land. He watched from a nearby set of ferns as a small flock of carefree Dodos were foraging in the coastal vegetation.
"I guess if they eat them, that means they're safe...?" The child contemplated as he inspected the berries he found out they were searching for.
In the palm of his hand were five small fruits that had the physical and almost identical appearance of blueberries. It was the yellow pigmentation that made them alien to him. He took them and popped them to his mouth. They even tasted like blueberries, only lighter. At least now he knew what he could eat, but what about meat? He didn't like the idea of having to rely on a vegetarian diet forever, but if it meant staying alive for a little longer, that's just what he may have to do.
While he was in the midst of looking for more of the yellow berries, he heard a disgusting sound, as if someone was hacking up mucus. Glancing to his left, he scooted out of the way in time for a ball of dark green gunk, which splashed against a rock next to him. Before he could make a comment of how the 'gross stuff' was stuck onto his skin, the brush yielded to a small prickly dark blue dinosaur with two bright red crests.
"Oh no!" Upon seeing the animal he recognized as a Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park, he ran for his life.
The creature was a few yards behind him when the child ran through the Dodo flock. The avians panicked and scattered in every direction when they saw the carnivore. Unfortunately for them, the Dilophosaurus switched targets when it realized that the human was going to be slightly faster than it.
Finding the perfect target, it hacked up another blob of its foul venom directly on a Dodo's face. It waited for the blinded bird to trip over a driftwood branch. At that moment, it leaped at its prey and silenced it, putting it out of its misery, before proceeding to consume it savagely. It hissed in delight with a couple of surviving Dodos and human looking on from the brush.
"Just what kind of a crazy place is this?" The sickened Adam asked himself whilst he watched the dinosaur eat its meal, obviously not getting any answer for his rhetorical question.
With a weary sigh, he journeyed into the thicket again with the goal to find any form of shelter from the beasts and hazards of the island.
"Why... how could they all abandon me?" Sunset Shimmer mumbled in a ball, her eyes red and hair a mess from crying for hours. It pained her to remember what happened here in Canterlot.
In the first week of November, an unknown perpetrator named Anon-a-Miss was using a social website called myStable as an outlet to spread secrets of students and few of the school staff alike. It began with an embarrassing childhood secret of Applejack's, her nickname being Piggly Wiggly. At first, it was shrugged off with the belief that it would just be a minor nuisance than anything else. However, it quickly escalated when more secrets of other students were posted. The question was, who was responsible for this disaster?
The answer, according to everyone, was Sunset Shimmer.
Who else could it have been, they had asked themselves. It was obvious to them that the former queen bee of Canterlot High was returning to her cruel and manipulative ways. What made matters worse was the fact that her five best friends also believed that she was Anon-a-Miss and ultimately shunned her in the worse way possible. Now she had hell to pay. However, it was never Sunset. Despite her pleas and begs of innocence, no one listened to her cries. She had worked so hard to get everyone to see her as a new person, but it was proven useless.
Through the course of November and early December, Sunset was met with unimaginable ire, bullied both physically and mentally by the students, whose actions were ignored by a majority of the staff. There were several occasions where she would be tormented out in the open halls and a teacher would do nothing to stop it.
Much later on a snowy late afternoon, she made her way to the Sweet Shoppe, a small pastry shop where she and her friends would often congregate. When she saw them inside, she mentally prepared herself to try to prove her innocence with her bag around her shoulder.
'Sometimes, all you can do is stay strong. Stay yourself. And find your family.' Sunset rephrased what Twilight wrote to her. Unlike everyone else, her onetime rival turned best friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle, truly believed she was innocent. However, since she was so busy with her duties back in Equestria, all she could do was offer some form of advice.
She opened the door, now seeing her friends sitting together at a table. They took notice of the pony turned human and neither of them were happy.
"Hey! Get out!" Rainbow Dash got up and hollered.
"Yer not welcome here, Sunset!" Applejack growled.
"No, wait! Please!" The girl in question dug into her bag. "I know you don't trust me and I can't prove that I'm innocent, but please. Please look at this." She brought our her magic journal in one hand. "I've been telling Twilight everything that's been happening and she-"
"So you lied to her too?" Rainbow Dash asked rudely, visibly getting angrier. "We're sick and tired of this!"
"Just look at this." Sunset opened the journal to her designated page. "Twilight reminded me that you are more than my friends. You're my family. You know me better than anyone. Ask yourselves. Would the Sunset Shimmer you know, the real Sunset Shimmer, the person I am now, would do this?" She knew she was taking a big gamble here, but if Twilight believed her, will they believe her as well?
The Rainbooms silently glared at Sunset, not paying any attention to the book.
"Yes..." Rainbow Dash broke the ice, to the shock of Sunset. "She would. You always manipulate people so you can gain their trust. And when they least expect it, you betray them! Stop trying to prove yourself innocent! We all know it's you!" Everyone else agreed with her.
That made Sunset begin swelling tears in her eyes. She just couldn't believe how all of the people, the very ones she considered a family, were now looking at her as the bully she once was last year.
"Why do you all still think I'm lying?!" She cried, tears trailing down her cheeks as she clutched the closed book in her grip. "I'm not lying! Why would I expose your secrets after all we've been thr-"
"Stop it, Sunset!" Pinkie Pie screeched, interrupting her. "Just stop it! You've posted secrets and hurt everyone in the process! Why should we do anything about it?!"
"B-but Pinkie! Remember those times where I had fun at your parties? They were the best times I had in my life! You even let me help you prepare them!"
"Well, maybe you were pretending to be having fun like the party pooper you are, you big meanie!"
Sunset looked towards the athlete of the group. "Dash, how about the times I came to your games and cheered you on!"
"You mean pretended to cheer me on?" Rainbow Dash sarcastically remarked. "We know how you always take advantage of people. Well, you won't be doing so any longer!"
"Rarity! Remember all of those dresses we made together and how I helped you organize your stuff?!"
"That was all before I realized that was just a front. You never changed at all." Rarity stood up and sneered. "You're nothing but a two-faced psychopath who's willing to ruin everyone's lives solely for your petty amusement! You should have never been forgiven at all!"
"Fluttershy! Please! You have to believe me! After the Fall Formal, you've been kindest to me out of everybody! I helped you at the animal shelter and-!"
"Hey!" Pinkie butted in. "Leave her out of this you-"
"Pinkie, wait." Fluttershy turned back to Sunset with a dark expression. "What you said may be true... but you've been so cruel to me when we first met. I... I thought you really changed, but now, you're back to your old ways again! How could you, Sunset?!" She now sobbed. "We... I trusted you and you lied to me! You're... you're nothing to us!"
Sunset's sadness was beginning to overtake her. She turned to the southern girl in desperation.
"AJ!" Sunset cried out. "What about those times I helped you at Sweet Apple Acres and-"
"Don't call me that, ya lying snake!" Applejack snapped. "To think ah actually called ya mah family. Yer an insult to the word 'family'! Ah bet your own parents were ashamed of having yah as a daughter!" If Sunset's heart was represented by glass, it would've cracked at that insult.
"You're a mean secret stealer!" Pinkie Pie snapped. "You shouldn't have come out of that hole when we blasted you that time!"
"You're nothing but a traitor, Sunset." Rainbow Dash stated. "You're that terrible person and always will be! Nobody wants you here!"
"WHY DON'T YOU GET OUT OF OUR LIVES?!" The Rainbooms all yelled together.
Sunset was taken back by their hostility. Her tears clouded her vision, but she knew they were all glaring at her. The emotion that swelled within her was complete sadness. Sadness that the very friends that she thought of as sisters she never had now believe in the lies of Anon-a-Miss. Sadness that they abandoned her without a second thought. Sadness that she might very well have been nothing but a charity case to them. Sadness at all of the brief memories of how they would always bring up her mistakes.
And all of that sadness slowly evolved into anger.
"So this is how it ends?" Her fists clenched.
"Repeat that 'gain?" Applejack crossed her arms.
"I said THIS IS HOW IT ALL ENDS!? AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH?!" Sunset unleashed her fury, startling the five people in front of her.
"I did my damnedest to prove that I changed after what happened at the Fall Formal! I HAD TO REPAIR THE SCHOOL ENTRANCE BY MYSELF TOOTH AND NAIL! AND I ACCEPTED GETTING DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THAT BUCKING YEAR! I SACRIFICED EVERYTHING I HAD LEFT AND HELPED EVERYBODY AFTER SCHOOL, INCLUDING MR. CRANKY! AND I GAVE IT MY ALL WHEN THE BATTLE OF THE BANDS CAME UP! AND I SAVED ALL OF YOUR LIVES FROM THE SIRENS, CELESTIA DAMN IT! AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?! FAMILY?! FAMILY, MY ASS-"
CLUNK!
She was interrupted when a napkin holder hit her square in the right cheek hard, enough to knock her down. It snapped her out of her fury. The culprit of the deed was none other than Rainbow Dash. The other girls were too shocked to say anything about her actions.
"This is your last chance to get out while you still can, she-demon." Rainbow Dash threatened. "Get out of our lives for good and don't come back."
Finally, Sunset broke down in a fountain of tears. The once hopeful girl was reduced to a sobbing mess. She got off the floor, grabbed her journal, and ran off, passing by Applebloom who was about to enter the small diner.
**********
Sunset was so devastated, she ran as far as she could from the city, vowing to never return. Just a couple of miles away in a forested freeway, she took shelter under a bridge next to a frozen river. She was too busy sniffling, rubbing her bruised cheek, and wiping her tears away, she didn't notice the wind shifting around her. She looked back at her book, glaring at it as she took it and began to write...
Dear Princess Twilight,
...I can't do this anymore. It's no use.
I took your advice, but no one wants to believe me. I could save them countless times and they'll see me as nothing but a monster. This 'family' I thought I found were nothing but liars...
I could try to return to Equestria, but I doubt anypony would want somepony like me...
Why is it whenever everypony else is accepted by friendship, I'm only met wiTH PAIN AND HATRED?
YOU SAID THAT THEY WOULD TEACH ME ABOUT FRIENDSHIP!
WHY?!!
WHY DID THIS 'FRIENDSHIP' HAVE TO ULTIMATELY BE A LIE!!!
With those final words written hard on the journal, she threw her book to the other side of the stream in a brief fit of rage. She fell on her knees and looked up at the sky.
"Why can't I be happy for once?! Am I just destined to be hated forever?!!" She screamed. With no answer, she sat there and laid in a fetal position, covering her face with her hands. "What do I have to do to show that I've changed?"
In the midst of her haggard breathing, she thought she heard the river's ice sheet cracking, getting her attention. At first, she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her until a weird flash of light appeared beneath the frozen barrier. And then a trio of colored lights shined in the water while the ice starting breaking as if something was wanting out, forcing her to get a couple of feet back.
The shattered ice sheets yielded to three glowing triangles (red, green, and blue), two large metallic pieces, and small stones that emerged, orbiting around each other and then fused together into a symbol that was shaped like the letter A, throwing away the rocks it took with it to the surface.
Sunset had to duck to avoid a few of the stones that shattered onto the concrete column behind her. She looked back up to see the strange... thing no bigger than a mattress in all of its glory. It only floated three meters above the river, humming a lowly drone.
"Wha-what in Celestia's name is that?"
As if it heard her, the triangles on the A's three corners emitted thin beams of light in random directions, each being one of the three colors. She would normally sit there and gawk at the phenomenon if she didn't notice the lights were getting brighter as they drew closer to her, before they all shined on her and immediately vanished. The patterns on the A began glowing yellow before something happened.
"After fire is ash."
The simple message was delivered by a deep electronic voice from a nonexistent crowd, calm and cold. She understood it as it was laid out; a short sentence describing what fire creates. Was there supposed to be some sort of ulterior meaning behind those words?
But then, a weird blueish-purple black hole erupted to life in its center, getting bigger by the second. She could feel its gravitational power slowly pulling her in. Realizing what it was trying to do, she attempted to run for it, only for the portal to get stronger tenfold, lifting her off her feet and towards itself.
All she could do was scream before she disappeared in a flash of white along with the A, then the winds shifted very violently as snow flew everywhere in the area.
The winter became so unforgiving when a ghostly equine figure arrived. It stepped down to where the former pony once stood and looked in all directions, as if it was searching for something or someone, before it let out a spectral growl of frustration and flew away. The magical journal was the only item left behind and now, it was embraced by the blanket of snow.
Adam made sure that the chunk of leech flesh was tied well on the long string of woven fiber attached to an old bamboo stick. He was out fly fishing for Sabertooth Salmon in a small river, using an old log for a chair. The passive yet fiercely defensive fish had been considered a delicacy thanks to its superb 'prime fish meat' not only for the nutrition value, but in the quantity of it.
A oink akin to a pig's sounded off behind Adam and he then felt a little body hop on top of his left shoulder. Normally, one would think his occupants were animals by modern standards, but they were a pair of prehistoric beasts; Louie the Lystrosaurus and Cindy the Compsognathus.
"Howdy guys." He greeted his companions with a small hint of a southern accent.
Cindy chirped happily while Louie grunted gently and rested his head on the human's lap. Adam chuckled lightly at this. They, along with a couple of others back at their home, were his only companions on Eden. It's amazing to think of how after everything that's happened, it led to a good life like this.
He remembered the first week (or was it more than that?) he'd been struggling to survive after his first night in this strange new world. He had to live off of edible berries and decomposing carcasses of fallen animals, sleep under logs and in the midst of rocks, muddy, naked, and afraid. His appearance would've fitted the description of what many people think of when they imagine a young modern Neanderthal.
That was until one day, he explored a bit more around the southern coasts and he was captured by a tribe that called themselves the Tide Riders. As they were preparing to execute him, mistaking him as a member of an enemy clan, they then took notice of the implant in his arm. They released him and brought him in the tribe, treating him as if he was a legendary figure spoken of in an epic. They were quite eager to teach him all about the ways of Eden and what it takes to survive and thrive in these lands.
But why the special treatment exactly?
According to the tribe chief, he was one of the prophesied 'Ascendants' who were destined to unlock the Gods' Beacons, the trio of massive floating structures scattered across Eden. He glanced at his 'God Mark', or implant, that was still in his wrist after all of these years. It was also said that the implant could be used as one of the required keys to a specific Beacon, but he hadn't tried to because of his lack of specific resources and the surrounding populations of carnivorous wildlife, raider bands, and hostile tribes. It could only serve as an eternal reminder of the fable.
His received praise increased tenfold when a rather hectic incident occurred. A Therizinosaurus, angry because a teenager believed it was a wise idea to provoke the temperamental beast, breached and attacked the tribe. When the creature turned its attention on the child, the boy put his hands into a halt gesture, ordering the clawed herbivore to stop as loudly and firmly as he could. And stop, it did. He tended to the confused dinosaur and soothed it, calming it down and eventually petting it. The more shocking part was the former aggressive animal was from that point on tamed.
Yes, a child tamed a Therizinosaurus without the need to use the widely common 'KO strategy'. Since then, the people dubbed him 'the Beastmaster'. As for the Therizinosaurus, it served as a guardian for the Tide Riders and easily repelled the weekly bandit raids.
A long time later, here he was now, enjoying his new life at his own little patch of Eden at Tiras Cove and relaxing in the mid afternoon breeze.
All of the sudden, he felt a tug from the fishing rod. Knowing that their master has to focus his attention on the catch, Louie and Cindy stepped away.
Adam stepped up with his firm grip on the rod, he angled the tool back and used his free hand to pull the line in. This tug of war had to end soon, as most fish were prone to breaking the line in half a minute. After several firm tugs, he managed to hoist the four foot long salmon onto shore. Before it could hop back into the river, he brought out a metal knife* to swiftly kill it.
Right now, he had to harvest the meat now before a Baryonyx decided to steal it. With his tool, he managed to fillet the corpse, earning about six slabs of the prime fish meat. When he was through, it was Cindy's turn to have her fill as she ran over to scavenge the leftover flesh off of the carcass.
Not caring about his packmate's eating habits, Louie went to a nearby bush to feed on its berries.
Upon finishing on wrapping his share of the meat in a couple of blankets of hide to store in his makeshift rucksack, he couldn't help but take note of his reemerging feelings of loneliness once more. It's been God knows how long since he had any notable social interaction with any other human after he left the Tide Riders. Since then, he and his pack had isolated themselves at Tiras Cove, sheltering themselves by living off the land. Social isolation at its purest.
Yes, he may have his squadron of pets but sometimes, he wished he had a friend he could share this life with.
Then as if from nowhere, a deep rumble filled the atmosphere.
Normally, one would believe this was another impending storm, but the booming noise was similar to massive cannons being shot off in an unseen battlefield. It spooked many of the flying creatures from the trees. A violent wind blew across the many acres of trees, enough to make a hail of leaves drop to the forest undergrowth. Even Cindy and Louie became frightened and hid behind their master, whimpering in their own tongues.
All Adam could do was stare at the sky with uncertainty. This was an omen for an unprecedented turn of events. Strangely, it felt eerily familiar to him.
The sky above the trio became deathly dark, a setting fit for a tornado at dusk. And it did in fact resemble a beginning formation of a tornado, if the swirling black clouds with a faint red light was any indication. The unnatural phenomenon was focusing on the beach not far from his direction. The red lightning ran wild within the clouds, the most activity occurring in the eye of the storm that formed into the shape of an A. It grew brighter every second until...
BOOOM!
It shot a beam of unnatural red light at the earth with a deafening force not even lightning could produce. The blinding light was enough for Adam to shield his eyes. And just as the dark storm had appeared, it had gone in less than a minute, fading away. It was barely a second later when the ambiance returned to normal and the sun shined upon the cove again.
Cindy and Louie tilted their heads from the human's sides. If they were humans, they would be asking if the intimidating spectacle was over. Adam remained still and looked back at the tree line. His curiosity got the better of him, ordering him to investigate the beach, where he assumed the light struck.
Out of one of the two holsters of his hide backpack, Adam brought out a wooden spear that ended with a sharpened bone tied firm with fiber. Better safe than sorry.
"Cindy. Louie. With me." He motioned to his pets to follow him to the coast.
The three adventurers itched their way through the forest undergrowth, brushing through the various bushes and ferns carefully as to not step on a twig. Just at several yards away, they heard a sound of a scream. Cindy and Louie perked up at the commotion. Adam took note of the noise as well, prompting his inquisitiveness further.
Finally at the borders of the forest and the beach, they had a good view of the wide shores and the everlasting sea beyond. A Gallimimus ran across the scenery to parts unknown. He blocked out the bothersome glares of the sun and there it was, in the swash zone. A simplified description of the figure sitting there would be a light brilliant amber pigmentation, for reasons unknown to him, and a hair of vivid crimson mixed with brilliant yellow. The most notable and unmistakable body shape, however, made him widen his eyes...
A human. Just like him.
Suddenly, a roar erupted from the forest.
An adolescent Carnotaurus' roar.
".. ugh..."
With a muffled groan, Sunset opened her eyes, only to close them again when they were about blinded by the sun. Her entire body ached with soreness from head to toe. She was soaked to the bone and grains of sand were stuck in her hair-
"Wait. Sand?"
She looked onto the ground she laid on and it was indeed sand. Her first guess was someone chose to prank her by leaving her in a giant wet sandbox until she glanced at every direction upon struggling to stand up, finding herself on the coast of some island. Panic was kicked into overdrive in her mind rather quickly.
Feeling a draft, she looked down to discover that all of her clothes, even her undergarments, were long gone and let out a shrill scream of fright, covering herself. As if the sea was attempting to silence her, a wave splashed against her back, wetting her further.
Fearing the idea of having any open wounds on her, she examined herself and paused upon discovering a diamond shaped implant with a red glow in her left wrist. Becoming overwhelmed with anxiety, she struggled to scratch the strange object out of her arm to the point where she began to hyperventilate.
"Where am I?! What happened to me?!" Sunset asked herself all of the questions that ran through her mind and back.
The last thing she remembered was crying under that bridge and then, a bizarre artifact (she couldn't tell if it was Equestrian-based or otherwise) appeared before her and took her into its vortex before she lost consciousness. Now she was stuck on some island with a weird implant in her limb.
SQUAWK!
A loud squawk of distress came from an giant ostrich-like thing that darted forth from the inland forest to across the beach past her, ignoring the former pony and never looking back. Before she could question herself what the animal was, a loud roar boomed from the jungle.
The tropical vegetation that hid the massive carnivore was pushed aside, making way for the beast that reminded her of the ancient beasts that she had read of in biology class. A 'dinosaur' if she recalled correctly. It was a tall bipedal reptile with a dark green-brownish back, lighter sides, and yellow underbelly. It had a short head armed with teeth and a pair of stubby horns that reminded her of a bull. Another key trait was its ridiculously short arms.
It grumbled in annoyance at having to see the herbivore run off, but then it glanced at the frightened Sunset's direction. It narrowed its eyes as its way of grinning at its luck. If it can't have its usual prey for lunch, then a human will be a satiating substitute.
The Carnotaurus bolted towards her at breakneck speed, crushing an oblivious Trilobite under its feet. Completely defenseless and horrified, Sunset was frozen on her knees.
"Someone! Please help me!" The best she could do was pray that someone would come to her aid.
But of course, who would help her? No one would care about what will happen to her. Perhaps this was divine retribution for her past sins; Cast away to nourish an island's wildlife. It was clear that karma took its time to turn the tables on her, starting with that accursed account before it moved in for the kill, quite literally may I add. Each approaching footstep made her question the point of her own existence.
Her impending doom was so concentrated on its target, it didn't see the spear flying straight at it, hitting it on the shoulder. The following pain made it lose focus and crash its body into the sand, groaning all the way.
"What on Equus?!"
Both she and the wounded Carnotaurus looked to where the projectile had come from. Sunset was surprised to see a young man in some sort of hide armor rushing at the animal from the undergrowth. Bringing out another spear, he threw it with precise accuracy at the carnivore's side as it tried to get back up, furthering hindering its progress. He took a couple of fingers to his mouth and whistled a signal only beasts would recognize.
A smaller creature that looked more like a bipedal lizard jumped onto his outstretched arm and used it as a bridge to leap onto the back of the Carnotaurus, biting and chewing down on its neck, distracting the larger predator. The stranger brought back out his knife and went in the fray.
Meanwhile, Sunset hid behind a nearby boulder and watched the fight in fright. Just who is this stranger? The moment she pondered that, a stubby quadrupedal animal waddled close to her. She was about to panic again until it simply sat down a bit in front of her, acting as a small shield that kept an eye on the battle.
"Uh... hi?" She greeted the animal awkwardly.
The Lystrosaurus replied with a grunt before turning back to the clash.
At one point, the Carnotaurus turned its attention on the male human in front of it. It snapped its menacing mouth at him, who quickly stepped away. The Compsognathus crawled onto its head and began pecking near its eyeball. This diverted the larger carnivore long enough for the boy to drive his blade into the left side of the predator's lower neck and created a massive open wound that spilled its life force.
Roaring in immense pain, the Carnotaurus wobbled around and eventually collapsed forward from the blood loss. The Compy managed to leap back onto her master's shoulders in time before she could fall off with it. He ended the larger predator's suffering by embedding the knife straight into its skull and twisted it for good measure.
A few seconds have passed when echoing caws from some parts of the forest made the stranger lift his head and stare into the thickets of the jungle. Other carnivores must've heard the commotion. It wouldn't be long before they got here to feast on the fallen Carnotaurus.
Back to Sunset, she couldn't help herself but gawk at the scene in silence. While she was grateful that the stranger came just in time to save her from death, the way he dispatched the beast had left her intimidated by him. The Carnotaurus was practically cut down with the efficiency of a trained butcher.
"...thank you." She managed to gather the courage to speak loud enough for him to hear that short sentence.
"Don't thank me yet." The stranger responded. He whistled a different tone towards the pig-like lizard, making the animal waddle up to him. "Follow us. You'll be safe at my place." The lizard trilled at the elephant in the room to add in emphasis.
She was hesitant to do so, but the approaching calls of possibly deadlier predators from the jungle eventually forced her to cooperate. Looking back at the oddball trio who began to stalk through the brush, the stranger glanced back over to her direction and gestured her to follow them again.
"Hey, wait up." She called to him, catching up them.
"Keep your voice low and stay low." He whispered. A blush overcame his face suddenly when he accidentally looked a little downwards at her direction. "And remind me to get you some clothes." He commented, looking away.
Sunset's cheeks brightened from the embarrassment and covered herself. She forgot that she was still stark naked.
The path to this stranger's place was a fairly long walk, enough to rival gymnastics. The beaten down route he made to venture from his home to specific areas of interest was their guide to a safe haven. Thankfully for the them, there was no other threat asides from the Carnotaurus earlier. There would be an occasional sighting of an animal asides from the stranger's pets he named Cindy and Louie. A majority of the island's herbivores and small omnivores would rather flee from or ignore a pair of humans, a Compsognathus, and a Lystrosaurus.
It was early in the evening when they could see a wooden structure over the small hill through the trees, which Sunset assumed was his home. The autumn-like wind had her shiver in the cold. The best kind of element protection/decency her savior could conjure for her at the moment was some basic improvisation with a few large banana leaves**.
"Who are you?" Sunset spoke, killing the awkward silence that haunted them for a short while.
The stranger was quiet for a few seconds before he spoke. "I'm Adam Primorr. Got a name yourself?"
"Sunset Shimmer." She answered.
"Odd, but nice name." He commented, kicking a small pebble away. "And might I ask what are you doing in a place like this?"
"That's what I've been asking myself. Where are we?"
"You're on Eden."
"Eden?" She parroted, confused over the name of this mysterious island. "Where's that at?"
"I don't know. This place may have dinosaurs, but this sure ain't Dinotopia." Adam shrugged. "You were probably brought here by an Opha."
Sunset was clearly perplexed by the term he used. The stranger looked back at her and could see that well judging from her expression.
"You know, a shining thing that looked like an A with the weird light show?" He continued.
"Yeah, that's what I saw." She nodded at the description. "And the next thing I knew, I blacked out. Then I woke up on the beach and you saved me from that dinosaur. Thanks for that, by the way." Sunset finished with a hint of gratitude.
"Hey. I was happy to help out another castaway." He grinned, pushed several large ferns out of the way.
Entering the small clearing, they arrived at their designation, which was surrounded by a palisade wall composed of tree trunks. There was not a single log that didn't have its top end sharpened into a spike to discourage a handful of predators. Each of them were tied together with fiber-turned rope***. The entrance was a gateway around the same height with a pair of doors****. He lifted the heavy stone barricade bar up then opened the gates that welcomed Cindy and Louie, waving to Sunset to follow him inside.
"Did he build all of this on his own?" Sunset asked herself in surprise when she entered.
He closed the doors and locked the barricade bar on. There stood a decently sized wooden cabin that looked like it could house a family of four or five. Not far from it was a small outhouse and on the cabin's right side stood a small garden composed of a few plots that were growing their respective crops. Next to the said crops was a large rain catcher of sorts.
As soon as he was about to open the house door, a lethal hiss emitted behind the structure. While he scoffed at the noise, Sunset understandably became cautious.
"What was that?"
"Oh, it's probably Diane." Adam answered, ignoring the obvious sign of danger and opened the door for whatever was behind it.
As Sunset was about to question who this 'Diane' was, out from the cabin came a little green Dilophosaurus that leaped in front of Adam and her packmates. Her red frills were open and teeth were bared directly at the former pony turned human. The girl screeched in fright and picked up a random stick for self defense.
"What in Celestia's name is that thing?!" She took a fearful step back when the animal snapped its jaws at her.
"Meet Diane, my Dilophosaurus." He answered plainly.
"Call off your pet whatever she is!" Sunset could've sworn she saw the animal salivating a green substance.
"Diane! Stand down!" Adam ordered strongly.
The dinosaur glanced at her master, tilting her head in confusion.
"She's a friend, not food." He explained to cease her temptation of making a meal out of the supposed intruder, although the last part his sentence about made Sunset pale.
The Dilophosaurus let her frills down when she itched close to the unlikely visitor, who was careful not to make any sudden movements. After sniffing her legs and identifying her scent, she snorted in response, turning around to stomp back into the house, followed hastily by Cindy and Louie.
"Huh. That went well." Adam commented.
Sunset glared at him with an angry face. "Why didn't you warn me that you had a guard monster inside your house?!" She snapped at him. A heads-up would've been appreciated in a situation like this.
"I forgot?" He shrugged innocently.
"... seriously?" She sighed in defeat in the midst of a facepalm, dropping the stick from her hand. "Is there anything else I need to be aware of?"
An entirely different screech echoed from the house and a lavender bat-like lizard glided over to Adam's shoulders. The Dimorphodon nuzzled its toothy face onto Adam's and eventually into his master's open hand, purring like a happy cat.
"I missed you too, Dylan." He chuckled.
Dylan soon noticed Sunset gawking at him. Rather than getting aggressive like the last animal, he became more uncomfortable just at the sight of her. Hissing shyly, he crawled onto Adam's farthest shoulder, trying to hide himself from her view.
"You'll have to forgive Dylan. He gets nervous when he meets strangers." Adam clarified the Dimorphodon's odd behavior while attempting to sooth the frightened flying reptile.
If one could look past the needle-like teeth, the personality was kind of cute for such an animal. "Hey there, little guy." Sunset greeted the pterosaur as softly as possible, which responded by itching closer behind Adam's head in an attempt to be invisible.
Before she could comment more on the sight, the cold wind struck her again, sending shivers across her back. "Is there any real clothes I could use?" She complained.
"In that cabinet in the living room. Can't miss it." He pointed in the building, enticing Sunset to go inside.
Upon entering, she was impressed with the architecture of the cabin. The living quarters was spacious with a couple of rustic sofas with hide cushions facing a stone fireplace and chimney. In At one room at the far end looked like a kitchen, if she could guess from the long table surrounded by chairs and a visible wall rack with cooking utensils and pans over a wooden counter. At the left side ended with a hall with two doors on opposite sides, which she believed were bedrooms.
Careful to not have a confrontation with Diane, who still kept a narrowed eye on the her from one of the sofas, she reached the cabinet that was close to front window, grabbing a random set of clothes and went into one of the rooms to change.
Minutes passed before an 'eek' erupted from the room. The door was pushed opened and the first to leave was Cindy fleeing with a hide boot dangling in her mouth. Her pursuer was Sunset now wearing a hide shirt, pants, and the opposite shoe.
"Get back here!" She shouted at the thieving carnivore that ran into the living room and hide on the other side of the sofa.
Louie, who was resting by the fireplace, glanced over at the commotion and bellowed parallel to laughter. A whistle from another room then caught his, Cindy's, and Diane's attention. The three made their way into the kitchen one by one. Cindy left the hide boot behind and granted Sunset a chance to get it and slip it on.
"Now that's more like it." She sighed in content. While ensuring the boot was tied around her foot, she was mentally looked back at the circumstance she was in.
Never once had she heard of an island called Eden until now. She was confused over how such a place could exist without anyone being aware of it. Stuck on this island, she was nothing but a stranger in a strange new world. Talk about déjà vu.
She needed to find a way out of Eden. Perhaps Adam could help her. It's possible he may know someway off the island. However, there's a chance that he might not know, but it's worth a shot. A satisfying sizzle from the kitchen interrupted her train of thought.
Curiosity got the better of her when she peaked into the kitchen to see Adam lighting a fire below the metallic grill, cooking a slab of prime fish meat. His Mesozoic customers happily ate their respective meals; the carnivores feasting on their own cuts of raw meat and the only herbivore with a bowl of fresh mejoberries. The metaphorical chef glanced over to see Sunset.
"This ought to satisfy them for a good few hours. Cindy won't try to steal anything else with a full belly." He pointed to the little carnivore digging into her share of food. "You can go ahead and get comfortable. I'll have dinner ready in a jiffy." He said as he was about to grab a few herbs from a separate cabinet.
"Wait." She got his attention, getting a chance to voice her concerns. "Look, I really appreciate the help, but I can't be here for long. I need to find a way to get back home."
Adam sighed dryly, knowing full and well she won't take this news very well. "I understand what you're going through, but there's no way off of Eden." He told her, straight to the point.
And indeed, she didn't take it well. She was frozen on her feet in disbelief with a look of shock. To be met with such an answer was unexpected.
"Wha.. what do you mean there's no way out of here?" She could only speak out.
"Once you're stuck on Eden, you're stuck. It's impossible to leave." He said solemnly.
"Hold the phone! How do you know we can't leave this island?" She interrogated sternly, refusing to believe it.
"If I knew, I would've left a long time ago." He simply answered.
"Can't we just build a boat and sail out of here or something?" She tried to think of some passage out of Eden.
"There were a few people who tried before, but none them were lucky." He explained.
"How do you know no one's ever made it out there?" She challenged this claim.
"Well, have you ever heard of Eden before you got here?" He arched a brow.
Sunset became quiet then, thinking long and hard before responding. "No?"
"Exactly."
"But there has to be way. Is there?" She hoped with desperation plaguing her eyes.
He shook his head apologetically.
"S-so there's no way out of here?" Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence.
"There isn't." Adam confirmed. "I'm sorry. If I knew a way, I would help you get off this island. But right now, leaving Eden's the least of your problems."
She glanced back outside the front window, remembering her earlier experience with the Carnotaurus. The thought of another one of the predators or worse served as a dreaded reminder of the cliché laws of the jungle in survival stories: eat or be eaten, or to the blunter individuals, kill or be killed. If what he's saying is true, then...
"What's out there exactly?" She dared ask.
"Let's see..." Adam started, naming the hazards he memorized. "There are disease ridden swamps, carnivorous plants, occasional natural disasters, quicksand, tar pits, predators like Saurophaganax, Gigatitans, Mosasaurs, Tyrannosaurs, Guanlongs-"
"Alright, I think I get it." Sunset suspired, having a feeling if she let him continue, they would be in the living room all night.
"If it helps, think of this as a vacation of sorts." Adam tried to provide some optimism, even if it didn't.
"I guess so..." She muttered. Her broken demeanor was cut off when her stomach began to grumble, calling out for overdue nutrition. She blushed from embarrassment. "About earlier, I guess I'll take you up on that dinner offer."
Less than half an hour passed after that conversation. While prepping the dishes, he offered to roast a slab of Sabertooth Salmon for Sunset, but to his surprise, she was actually a vegetarian. Fortunately, he had the ingredients required for a basic yet filling salad. He made himself a cooked slab of prime fish meat with mejoberries to add flavor, while for refreshments, they both had wooden mugs with fresh water. The quad of animals were huddled together, resting off their meals nearby.
"Wow! This was really good." Sunset complimented, evidenced by her empty bowl. "You got everything in the salad just right."
"When you're stranded in the middle of an island, you learn a lesson or two about the culinary arts." Adam bragged before he finished off his fish.
"Next time, I'd like to help." She spoke with a faint smirk. "I used to work at a sushi restaurant and I know a couple of dishes that'll knock your socks off."
"I'll keep that in mind." He smirked back, sensing the challenge, before he went over to clean out the wooden dishware at the improvised sink.
While he was handling the chore, Sunset was alone once against in her thoughts, mindlessly trailing her finger around the edges of her mug. With the telling of no hope for returning home, she was uncertain of what she could do now. Granted, she still finds the concept of 'no way out of Eden' hard to believe, but the way Adam had worded it, it didn't seem like he was making it up. It sounded legit. Under these circumstances, her mind pondered onto the only possible source of help in this strange new world she has at the moment; the very stranger who saved her.
As much as she wasn't that openly trusting for a handful of good reasons, a part of her mind was urging her to at least give Adam the benefit of the doubt. And besides, he didn't seem to have a bad bone in his body. Throughout the entire day, he, a stranger she never met in her life, has shown her nothing but kindness. After a minute of contemplating, she ended up taking a chance.
"Hey, Adam?" Sunset sighed nervously.
"What's up?" He glanced back at her.
"Since it's pretty clear I'll be on Eden for a while, will it..." She hesitated for a moment before she continued. "Will it be okay if I stayed here with you? Until we can find a way out of here?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course you can!" He smiled, surprising her with his hospitality. "You think I'd leave you out there to die after I saved you and fed you?"
"A-are you sure? I hope I'm not asking for too much from you." Sunset muttered with uncertainty.
"Not at all. You can stay." He assured, shrugging off her doubt.
The former pony was taken back by his generosity before she turned away slightly. "T-thank you so much for your kindness."
Adam chuckled lightly at the gratitude before putting away the cleaned wooden dish away. "Now to discuss about the room you can make yourself at home in.".
Sunset let out a tired sigh while she rested in the simple bed, if one can call it that. It was more of a wooden bed frame and a sheet of wood decorated with straw for a mattress. The hide pillow did little to ease her since it was stuffed with, you guessed it, thatch. The only source of comfort was the thick sheet of Dire Bear hide that shielded her from the cold winds of the night. It wasn't quite as luxurious compared to an apartment bed, but beggars can't be choosers.
"I bet some people and ponies would flip over an opportunity at exploring a new world..." She couldn't help but smirk at the thought of such priceless reactions before she soon frowned a little. "But what about... no..."
She turned her head to gaze at the full moon from the open window. The natural opera of ambiance composed of singing nocturnal wildlife and gentle blows of the wind did little to ease her pain of that bitter memory with the Rainbooms.
She genuinely thought that she had successfully redeemed herself and that the five girls alongside the entirety of the school had trusted her. How horrifically wrong she was. She felt like nothing but a glorified charity case inadvertently given to them on a silver platter by Princess Twilight, the very princess who saved the campus from her wrath.
She wanted to think of some logical reason as to why they would ditch her so quickly and that seemed to be it; They wanted to live up to Twilight's expectations and please her. And when they thought Sunset stepped out of line, they threw her away. They never were her friends in the first place.
"To come to think of it, they never really forgave me all this time, did they? Always calling me a she-demon, bringing up those awful memories, and they only used me for the Battle of the Bands at the last minute." She shook her head to rid of those thoughts. "No, don't worry about it anymore, Sunset. They can live without you."
The important thing to her now was that to focus on the present. That was her motivating phrase to move on from the past. She could only mutter these words before drifting off to sleep.
"My past is not today..."
Helena Walker Note #1 (Eden) "I was lucky to have been sent to this paradise. Why couldn't I just been here in the first place? This is better than that bloody desert.
So I think I understand a little bit of how the console worked. As I stated before, there are many kinds of destinations that extend to beyond that island. Being careful this time, I waited for it to complete its cycle until it showed the image of an island that screamed heaven on earth. Actually, to call it an island would be an insult. This 'Eden' place looked more like a continent than anything else. I pressed that one button I remembered touching before I got to the desert.
Right now, I'm enjoying the sunset across the coast. Not just that, but I found Rockwell and Mei Yin again. So I won't be alone this time around."
